N31trn Required to Rehabilitate North-east States in 10 Years, FG Reiterates

* Builds 1,000 housing units for Borno IDPs

Deji Elumoye in Abuja

The federal government yesterday restated that the sum of N31 trillion would be required to rehabilitate the six states that make up north-east zone in 10 years.
It also stated that government had completed the construction of 1,000 housing units in Borno State, as part of its resettlement efforts for the people of the region.

Managing Director of the North East Development Commission (NEDC), Mohammed Goni Alkali, who made this known to newsmen at the State House, Abuja, stressed that not less than N31 trillion ($80 billion) was required to fund the North East Stabilisation and Development Master Plan 2020-2030.

He added that the 10-year masterplan would address humanitarian challenges facing the crisis ridden region.
According to him, the Commission hope to raise 20 per cent of the estimated fund through budgetary allocations while the balance would be sourced from the private sectors, development partners and donor agencies.

Alkali also said the 1,000 IDP houses were built in Ngwom, Borno State, with plans to build 500 housing units in each of the five other affected states, all at the cost of N17.5 billion.

He stressed that the NEDC had executed 647 projects ranging from agriculture, health, education, energy/power across 112 local government areas in the northeast adding that at least N50 million was spent on each local government area bringing the total cost to N5.6 billion.
He also noted that three bridges have been constructed in Kudzum, Dilechim and Wuro-Ngayandi areas of Adamawa State.  

Alkali argued that the lack of a strong education system in the northeast fueled the insurgency, therefore, the commission, he explained, created an Education Endowment Fund with a seed capital of N6 billion; with plans to dedicate 10 per cent of its annual allocation to the fund.
The NEDC boss also lamented the dearth of teachers in the region, disclosing that about 40 per cent of teachers there had either been killed in the insurgency or displaced over time.

Responding to a question during the briefing, the Executive Director, Humanitarian Affairs at the NEDC, Musa Yashi, revealed that many IDPs were not willing to return to their original communities, citing the level of their integration into their host communities.  
Commenting on the challenges of resettling IDPs back to their home communities torn apart by the Boko Haram insurgency, Yashi noted that 20 to 30 per cent of displaced persons do not live in camps.

This demography, he said, had thrived in communities outside their homelands. Hence, their unwillingness to return home.
Citing the dismal condition of towns across Monguno, he argued that resettlement would require the reconstruction of whole communities; a task so daunting that the NEDC does not have enough funds to undertake at this time.

Speaking on measures that had been put in place to shield the NEDC from corruption, Alkali said the commission was created for a purpose and would ensure judicious utilisation of resources at its disposal and to actualize its mandate for the people.

His words: “You see, these things have to do with institutional issues, individual issues, and so on and so forth. But, in our own case we know that we are created for a purpose, and at the end of the day we believe that posterity will judge us with what we have done with the mandate given to us.

“That is why we are very careful and very prudent in seeing that we propose and execute what we can do with the available resources. Sometimes, yes, there could be political pressure, but always in the commission we are bent on following laid down procedures and see that we are guided by what is feasible and what is prudentially possible to achieve and this is our commitment to the people of the northeast.
“We as a team now, we want to ensure that whatever is given to us is being protected for their benefit.”